Myst: The Stranger's Return
by EJWeir
Summary: You know how you'd get on in the Myst world... but how would Atrus and Catherine cope in ours?
1. Prologue

Myst: The Stranger's Return  
  
Prologue  
  
"Oh, come on, Atrus, you've been writing in that journal for ages!"  
  
Atrus cast his bleary eyes up at Catherine. "But I must write in my journal, my love- I need to."  
  
Catherine sighed. "Whatever for? You haven't exactly done anything interesting today other than install a papier-maché spaceship in the garden!" She sat next to him, and put her arm around his shoulders.  
  
"Somehow I get the feeling you're hiding something from me, Atrus."  
  
Atrus put his pen down and buried his head in his hands. "I am not hiding anything from you, Catherine. We are husband and wife, we keep no secrets from each other."  
  
"Then why," she purred menacingly, "is there a bloody great spaceship in the garden?"  
  
Atrus froze, not knowing what to say next. "Maybe it's time we went to bed- we've got a lot to do tomorrow."  
  
He pulled a handle above his head, making the desktop tip back. The drawers slid out, creating a set of steps leading down to the bedroom.  
  
"Goodnight, my love."  
  
As they were settling down to sleep, Catherine switched the lamp on.  
  
"No, Atrus. I want to know what you're doing."  
  
There was no way out now. He had to tell her.  
  
"Catherine, I've been thinking. Wouldn't it be better if we could...utilize Myst island? We could open it up to the public- I'm sure there are people in other worlds who have never seen anything like what we have here."  
  
Catherine was shocked.  
  
"Atrus, this was supposed to be our island! A place just for the two of us, where we could escape the terrible things that happen on other worlds!"  
  
"But Catherine! Look around you! Look at the birds in the air! Look at the trees! Look at the outstanding graphics quality!"  
  
"Graphics quality! You talk as though everything were just a... a big machine!"  
  
"But people could come and look at it all! They could even play a game while they're here! They could pretend they were helping us in a crisis, or something!"  
  
Catherine was beginning to understand. "So that's why you got the spaceship. It's all just a game to you, isn't it? You didn't even think to ask me."  
  
"I've written some music that the visitors could listen to as they explore." Atrus produced a roll of paper with the notes written out in the D'ni style. Catherine stared at it, setting out the notes in her head.  
  
"But... but this is awful! It's all... sad, and dreary! This doesn't express the spirit of the island at all!" Catherine started to get up, but Atrus grasped her arm. She turned to face him.  
  
"Catherine, I have plans for this island. There is so much we can do."  
  
Tears prickled Catherine's eyes. "Who are 'we', Atrus? If you want to destroy the island, do so, but do not expect any help from me."  
  
Wrenching her arm out of his grip, she clambered out of the bed, wrapped her robes tightly around herself, and ran back up the steps to the library.  
  
"Catherine!" Atrus jogged after her, in time to see her grab one of his Linking books and slam her hand onto the panel. He picked the book up from the dusty floor, and glanced at the title.  
  
Riven. 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter 1  
  
It had been a while since Catherine had left the island. In that time, Atrus had sent one of the visitors to save her from Gehn- an event that convinced her to return to Myst. Their third child, Yeesha, was just learning to read and write, though it would be some time yet before she could create Ages of her own.  
  
The couple were now working on a new game together, for their increasing numbers of visitors to play.  
  
"How about... the player has to save you, Atrus?"  
  
"No... they've already saved one of us. And besides, I'm the one who tells them what to do at the start, I can't be captured. Hmm... what if they were to foil a conspiracy against our family?"  
  
"Been done. Anyway, we can't expect them to be too clever. Half of them were stuck in the fireplace for hours before they thought of reading the books, do you remember?"  
  
At that moment, the door burst open and a figure ran into the library. Atrus grabbed his father's poison dart gun.  
  
"Don't shoot!" it yelped. As it came into the light, they could see it was a girl in her early teens. She was obviously from another world- they couldn't quite tell which one. Still holding the dart gun, Atrus began to ask her some questions.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Lucy. I'm a fan of your games, by the way, I've played them all."  
  
Atrus lowered the dart gun. "Shorah."  
  
"Shorah behshehmtee," she answered, to Atrus's surprise. "I learnt a little D'ni from the Internet. I knew it would be useful one day."  
  
Catherine hadn't seen many people from other worlds, and wanted to know more about this one. "What are those red markings on your face?"  
  
The girl laughed. "Spots- we all get them during adolescence."  
  
"You mean they disappear when you grow older?"  
  
"Erm, yes. Why do you ask?"  
  
"Fascinating! What are those long, loose socks you are wearing with the feet cut off? Why are they joined together at the top?"  
  
"Catherine, I'm sure she is not here for you to ask her about her world. Or her alien clothing fashions." He turned to Lucy. "Come to the drawing room. We can talk further there."  
  
The drawing room seemed out of place- it was nothing like the rest of the library, which had been designed to look ethereal and haunting. This room was comforting and much lighter; there were large windows with long, elaborately-patterened curtains tied back with tassels; there were three chintz sofas in a half-circle around the old marble fireplace. Before the fireplace stood a wooden coffee table, on which had been placed a round tray bearing a teapot, a jug of creamy milk, and a plate of biscuits.  
  
Atrus motioned for Lucy to sit down.  
  
"Tea?" he offered.  
  
"Volah, g'chehv a'shehm," she replied. Atrus smiled and headed back to the library.  
  
"It's all right, the other visitors taught us some of your language," Catherine assured Lucy as Atrus returned with three cups. He began to pour the dark, viscous D'ni tea into them.  
  
"Milk?"  
  
"Please." The runnier milk trickled into the cups, and Atrus stirred each of them. The tea appeared to be floating on the milk now, looking for all the world like a mud pie. He handed a cup to each of them, and started to drink his own.  
  
"It's so difficult to make proper D'ni tea these days," Catherine commented. "Since D'ni is so far underground, the water boils at a phenomenal temperature- up here on the surface, it never seems to taste quite as good."  
  
Despite that, it still tasted more pleasant than it looked, Lucy decided. It tasted strongly of liquorice, and it prickled her tongue like a very hot spice.  
  
"So, Illuci- what brings you to Myst island?" Atrus inquired.  
  
Catherine cringed. Atrus always pronounced foreign names incorrectly. But Lucy didn't seem to mind.  
  
"Something unusual happened to me, Atrus. I was writing my diary again, and I wrote all about yesterday's events in my home world, Earth. And I'm not sure what went wrong, exactly- but when I turned to the front page, there was a picture- a Linking panel.  
  
Taking the risk, I entered, only to find myself back in my room again. I have accidentally written a Linking Book to Earth!"  
  
Atrus choked on his tea. This was impossible! So far, the visitors had only managed to return to their home world by way of a portal, which had been cleverly written by Catherine to resemble a game's ending. But if Illuci had managed to make a Linking Book... that would mean she was D'ni!  
  
"Lucy, are you sure it is indeed a Linking Book?" Catherine asked sceptically.  
  
"You tell me," she replied, producing a small book from her pocket.  
  
It looked nothing like a Linking Book. Most Linking Books were great, leather-bound tomes filled with yellowing, dusty pages. This was covered with a tough, woven fabric, which they later learned was called denim, and the edges of the cover were lined with a fake, pink fur. It had the words "Funky Princess" printed in the centre in curly, pink writing. Atrus and Catherine stared at it, before opening it to the middle. Inside was a simple diary, although much more descriptive than most, even more so than Atrus's. It talked about when she went shopping with her friends, the boys she had crushes on at the time, how things were at school.  
  
But at the front was indeed, a Linking panel. Lucy had glued a piece of pink fur over it so anyone who happened to read the journal wouldn't see it. The fur was flapping about a little, sometimes flapping into the panel and out again.  
  
"I can't quite see the panel for the fur," Atrus murmured.  
  
He reached to pull the fur aside, and his hand brushed against the panel. Before he could jerk his hand away, he was falling into the book. 


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter 2  
  
Catherine was horrified, yet strangely impressed.  
  
"Wait a moment, Lucy," she commanded.  
  
Gathering up her skirts, she ran back to the library and grabbed a Myst Linking Book from the shelf.  
  
"This will take us back here when we find Atrus. Follow me in a few gorahntees- we will need you to give us advice."  
  
She linked.  
  
A few seconds later, Catherine found herself in a town square. The ground was paved with slabs of pale, grey rock, and there were buildings all around her. They did not look nearly as beautiful, or as strong as any D'ni building, but they were an improvement on the bare shacks she had grown up in on Riven.  
  
She tried to ignore all the different things, and focus on finding Atrus. This proved to be an easy task, as there was a small crowd gathered around him, on the corner of the street.  
  
She fought her way through, and gasped when she saw him doubled up on the ground with his hands over his face, screaming.  
  
"My eyes!!" he kept shouting. "My eyes!!"  
  
Of course, he always wore his goggles when he linked. He had inherited one of the D'ni's main flaws- his eyes were much weaker than those of other races, and they could not cope with the ridiculously bright light of this Age's sun.  
  
"Atrus!" Catherine cried.  
  
Still covering his eyes, he turned. "Catherine?"  
  
"Stay here- I'll try and get some help."  
  
She ran into the nearest shop and tried to get the attention of a group of shoppers. They simply walked briskly past her with their heads down. She overheard a family muttering about her mental state.  
  
This was ridiculous. Just when Catherine was about to give up, she spotted a rack of sunglasses on one of the aisles. Grabbing the pair with the broadest lenses, she dropped a few D'ni coins onto the shop counter and darted back out into the street.  
  
The shop assistant stared at the unfamiliar coins in bewilderment.  
  
"Hey! Come back here!"  
  
When Catherine returned, Atrus had his eyes tightly screwed up, and was wandering about with his hands in front of him, bumping into people as he went.  
  
She hurried over to him.  
  
"Atrus! Stand still for a moment."  
  
Atrus nodded, and stopped. Catherine slid the sunglasses onto his nose.  
  
"Try that."  
  
Slowly, Atrus opened his eyes. He could see!  
  
"Ah, that's much better! Rahm, g'chehv a'shehm, Catherine!"  
  
"Atrus!" she hissed. "No D'ni here- if we're going to find out more about this place, we'll have to blend in with the other people here."  
  
Atrus pulled a bag of fried behlehtsahrah leaves from his pocket and began to chew one thoughtfully.  
  
"What are you doing?!"  
  
"Relax, Catherine. I've seen people here eating them- they call them chips."  
  
"Oh, and I suppose chips are turquoise, are they?"  
  
"No. But I'm sure they taste the same."  
  
Atrus delved into his pocket again, and gasped.  
  
"Catherine! Did you bring a Linking Book?"  
  
She laughed. "Of course I did, Atrus! It's right..."  
  
She felt her robes anxiously. Nothing! 


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter 3  
  
"Atrus! What are we going to do? What about Yeesha? She's still back at the library! Who's going to look after her?"  
  
"Yeesha! May Yavo protect her! What can we do?"  
  
A fizzing noise behind them made them jump. The shape of Lucy slowly appeared.  
  
"Oh, Illuci! Thank the Maker!" Atrus cried, grabbing her arms. "Catherine's lost the Linking Book. I trust you brought one...?"  
  
Lucy groaned. "I thought Catherine had brought it."  
  
They all sighed.  
  
"Well, it's okay for you," Catherine grumbled. "This is your home world. You know all about it. Our home world is back there, where we left our daughter!"  
  
She paused.  
  
"Lucy?"  
  
"Yes, Catherine?"  
  
"Since Atrus and I are stuck here, would you mind explaining your world to us? Because at the moment, everyone treats us like ahrotahntee."  
  
Lucy led Atrus and Catherine down the street, and back to her house. The house was fairly small when compared to the shops, with a sloping, slate roof and red brick walls. The garden was a little unkempt, but it possessed a strange, wild beauty. Atrus and Catherine had never seen anything like it.  
  
"My mum's gone to the shops, so it looks like the coast's clear," she told them.  
  
Atrus was still staring at the house. "Where's the Linking chamber? Where's the big, gold dome? Where's all the rest of the house?"  
  
"Atrus!" Catherine nudged him.  
  
"We've got an underground chamber if it's any consolation," Lucy giggled. "Only we call it a basement."  
  
"Oh, is it for the machinery of the house? Gold domes and the like?"  
  
"Not exactly..."  
  
Lucy led them down a dark set of stairs into a spacious room. It was only sparsely decorated, and there was no furniture. The only extravagances were a large sofa in the corner, a funny-shaped box against one wall, and a green table with holes in it.  
  
Atrus sniffed. "Storage."  
  
"It also makes a good, er, recreational area," Lucy informed them.  
  
Catherine stepped cautiously around the green table. "Ah, a dining table. And the round holes are... Cup-holders!" She picked up a ball from the table and was about to put it in her mouth. "And this is fruit!"  
  
"No!" Lucy cried. She picked up a long stick that was leaning against the wall. "It's a game. You have to get all the balls into the holes by hitting them with this stick."  
  
Atrus took the other stick and laid it across the width of the table. In one motion, he dragged it down the length of the table, sweeping all the balls into the hole at one corner.  
  
"No, no, you have to hit the white one with the stick so that it bumps into the other balls." She did so, and sent the blue and pink balls into two opposite pockets.  
  
"Huh. Give me Gemedet any day. Now how are we going to get home?"  
  
By now, Catherine had been examining the oddly-shaped box against the wall. It was made of wood, and had a lovely polished shine to it.  
  
"Oh, you'll recognize that!" Lucy said, smiling. "I think you have something like it on Myst Island."  
  
She lifted a lid in the front of the box, revealing lots of black and white bars, just like the organ on Myst Island.  
  
"Oh, don't I just," Catherine said drily. "It's in that bloody spaceship of yours, Atrus."  
  
"That 'bloody spaceship' is artistic, my dear! Besides, you have to admit, the piano is an endless source of fun."  
  
"Not half as much fun as those hot Averonese guys you got to rebuild D'ni," she muttered.  
  
"What was that, dear?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, Atrus. Why don't we teach Lucy some D'ni folk songs on the piano?"  
  
"Ah, yes. Would you like that, Illuci?"  
  
Lucy nodded, and Atrus sat down at the piano and started tapping the keys to his heart's content. The melody was cheerful, and it sounded familiar to Lucy. Maybe it was one of the tunes used on Myst Island...? Perhaps not.  
  
"Flyyyy me to the mooooon, and let me play among the staaars," Atrus warbled. "Let me see what spring is like on Riven and Ko'Ah..."  
  
They heard the front door open.  
  
"Lucy! It's me!"  
  
"Oh God, it's Mum! Quick, hide! I'll be back in a minute."  
  
Atrus and Catherine dived under the snooker table, then, deciding it was no hiding place, hid behind the sofa. They were waiting there for quite some time, until Lucy returned with a huge plate of sandwiches.  
  
Catherine grinned. "Mmm, you brought food!"  
  
"Shh. Not so loud. Mum doesn't know you're here."  
  
Atrus looked puzzled. "Well, didn't you tell her?"  
  
"No! Do you know how she'd react if I told her I was putting up a pair of people who are originally from the centre of the Earth-"  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"-Well, one person from the centre of the Earth, (or New Mexico, however you look at it) and one alien. She'd think we were all bloody mad."  
  
"Couldn't we just pay our rent and be done with it?"  
  
"You don't understand," Lucy whined in that annoying, teenage way. "Listen, I'll try and keep Mum out of here. Please be as quiet as you can, while I get you more food and drink. There's eighteen sandwiches there, six of each kind- Marmite, cheese and jam. I don't know if they have Marmite in D'ni. I expect you'll like it."  
  
She jogged back up the stairs, while Catherine munched a sandwich thoughtfully. "This," she declared, "tastes of reekoo dung."  
  
"Didn't know you'd ever been that desperate, Catherine," Atrus retorted. "I rather like this... this Marmite. By the way, what's that silver thing Lucy's left here? With the wires on it?"  
  
Lucy returned with two bottles of lemonade, three apples and a wobbly, green, sugary thing, and nearly dropped them.  
  
Atrus was dancing. Not only that, he was rapping. He must've found her Walkman with her rap CD in it, and thought he'd give it a try himself. To be fair to him, he was respecting her wishes and doing it a little quieter than he wanted to.  
  
"We're in the house with Atrus of D'ni," he sang. "Who finds this rapping thing rather funny. He doesn't know why peeps spend their money, on music like this... something... -unny." He clapped his hands and jumped round, to face Lucy.  
  
For a moment Lucy didn't say anything. Then- "What are you doing??"  
  
"He's shaking his booty," Catherine said helpfully.  
  
"I see. Nice rhyming, too. I'll leave your dessert here- when you want to sleep, the sofa folds out, and there's a blanket in the box next to you that you can use. Night-night." 


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter 4  
  
Atrus had tired himself out from all that rapping, and Catherine was ready to sleep too. Atrus pulled the sofa out and pushed hard on the top to fold it out.  
  
"Are you done?" Catherine grumbled.  
  
"Yes, I'm done."  
  
Catherine squinted at the sofa-bed. "I still think it should be the other way round."  
  
Atrus sighed. "Catherine, do we have to argue about everything? Ever since we started making games on Myst, we've hardly said a civil word to each other. If something's troubling you, you know you can always talk to me."  
  
"Oh, Atrus... I... I'm sorry. It's no way for Yeesha to grow up, is it? With her parents arguing?"  
  
"I'm sorry too, Catherine. If she ends up like... like Sirrus and Achenar, I'd-"  
  
Catherine gasped. "But... WE traumatised them. It's our fault they turned out the way they did. For the Maker's sake, Atrus, we locked them in trap books all through the first of the games! It's no wonder Sirrus turned to drink and Achenar went power-hungry."  
  
"Just... like... Gehn."  
  
They slumped down next to each other on the sofa-bed. Atrus started to cry softly. He looked up at Catherine.  
  
"Catherine... we won't have to trap them forever, like we did my father... will we?"  
  
"I hope not." She paused. "I have an idea. Why don't we pay them a visit?"  
  
"We could... Oh, but I burnt the books. How could I have trapped my own sons? I've as good as murdered them!"  
  
"Well... we could have a browse through the library. I'm sure we'll find another link to the Age in there. Hey," she said soothingly, hugging him, "we could take Yeesha along as well. She's five now, she's old enough to come with us as long as we keep an eye on her."  
  
"M-my boys... never even got to see their baby sister!" Atrus wailed.  
  
"We can fix that, honey. All we have to do now is find a way out of here."  
  
But it was late at night- far too late to be making escape plans. The basement looked so different in the dark. The eerie, angular silhouettes of the snooker table and the piano became grotesque monsters in one's mind.  
  
Catherine rubbed Atrus's shoulders. "Let's get some sleep first, Atrus. Perhaps in the morning, we can make a start."  
  
They settled down, but Atrus could not get to sleep. He spent the night tossing and turning, thoughts of his children filling his skull until he was certain it would burst.  
  
It had just gone midnight when he shook Catherine awake.  
  
"Catherine!"  
  
"Ugh... what is it?"  
  
"I've had an idea."  
  
"Not now, Atrus, go to sleep."  
  
"Myst. If a book can be used as a game... can't a game be used as a book?"  
  
Catherine sat up. "I'm listening."  
  
"Illuci said she was a fan of our games, yes? That means she must have a Linking Book to Myst!"  
  
"By Yavo, Atrus, you're right! Why didn't we think of this before?"  
  
"Ssh. We mustn't wake Illuci's family up."  
  
Atrus and Catherine clambered out of the bed and padded up the stairs to Lucy's bedroom- the logical place for her to keep her books, in the absence of a library. Shadows played across the walls of the narrow staircase.  
  
A dark shape bolted past them, screeching.  
  
"Agh!"  
  
Atrus fell and grabbed onto the stair-rail, but not without making an awful din.  
  
"Why didn't she tell us they kept animals indoors?!"  
  
"Quiet! Do you want to get out of here or not?"  
  
"I hope they don't have a Maintainers' guild here. They'd be onto us like a shot."  
  
They crept along the landing, and eased Lucy's door open. It creaked slightly, and Lucy woke up with a gasp.  
  
"Shh. We've found a way out."  
  
Lucy mouthed something at them in puzzlement.  
  
"Where do you keep your Myst linking book?"  
  
"Linking book?" she whispered. "What linking book?"  
  
"Well, how did you play our game?!" Atrus hissed.  
  
"The computer. That plastic box in the corner. Push that button and put the doughnut-shaped disc in the receptacle."  
  
Catherine did so. The machine made a brief bleeping sound, and soon, their library on Myst appeared on its screen. Atrus felt all of the atoms in his body breaking away from each other and being drawn into the picture... and then, they were there- actually there, on Myst island. It was nighttime there, as it was on Earth. The air was still, and the chatter of the gulls had ceased. Atrus and Catherine could smell the familiar, reassuring scent of the forest.  
  
The group headed up the hill into the library and down to the sitting room. Something was different about it. The chintz curtains had lost their homeliness. Shadows were more apparent on the patterened walls, as though a dark secret which they had kept for a long time was starting to emerge. Atrus slumped onto the nearest sofa and sighed.  
  
"Thank the Maker that's over."  
  
Lucy yawned. "I need my sleep. I've got a Physics test tomorrow and I don't want to be tired before it. Bye, Atrus; bye, Catherine. It was great meeting you."  
  
She opened the front of her diary and linked back home, letting the diary fall to the floor.  
  
"Somehow I don't think it is over," Catherine murmured.  
  
"Why not?" Atrus droned.  
  
"Well, for a start, how did Lucy manage to write a Linking Book? It takes great skill. Something you can't just do randomly."  
  
"Maybe she was doodling and she drew a garo-hertee by accident."  
  
"Unlikely. To do a garo-hertee properly, you have to draw the exact shape and get the lines just right. And how could she describe Earth in such a small book as a diary?"  
  
"Linking books are typically much smaller than descriptive books, Catherine."  
  
"True... but I still think there's something missing. I'm sure we don't know the whole truth."  
  
Atrus sighed. "You're reading too much into this, Catherine. Let us worry about our own issues. Remember when we were in Illuci's basement and we were discussing our sons? Tomorrow, we shall visit them. We shall show them that we still love them."  
  
Catherine sighed, remembering how thoughtless they were to imprison their own sons for something as stupid as a game.  
  
"Which Age did we... trap them in, Atrus?"  
  
"Channelwood," he muttered solemnly. "Channelwood." 


End file.
